In a landmark achievement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (July 13) informed that India’s revolutionary payments system Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will be launched in France soon. PM Modi said an agreement was in place with the French government and that the first UPI transaction would occur at the Eiffel Tower where tourists would be able to pay in Indian rupees.
“India and France have agreed to use UPI in France. In the coming days, it will begin from the Eiffel Tower, which means Indian tourists will now be able to pay in rupees,” said PM Modi during his speech.
The development comes after the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the governing body of UPI, signed an MoU with France’s fast and secure online payment system, called Lyra, last year.
Also read | UPI records 9 billion transactions in May worth Rs 14.3 trillion
UPI’s introduction in India
It was in 2016 that NPCI introduced the UPI system to the country. PhonePe was one of the first platforms to integrate UPI into its system. A year later, several competitors followed suit and since then, UPI has transformed into a behemoth that even foreign nations are looking to get their hands on.
The UAE, Singapore, Nepal and Bhutan have already adopted UPI, with a few more countries waiting to join the bandwagon.
For a country like India where technology penetration was extremely low before PM Modi’s NDA government took charge, the success of UPI has been nothing short of a miracle.
The payment infrastructure recorded a whopping 9.93 billion transactions in the month of June with the total value touching Rs 14.75 trillion, according to NPCI.
Most European nations have struggled to move to a cashless economy but in India, even the poorest have seamlessly adopted the novel payment system.
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Other announcements made by PM Modi
During the speech, PM Modi made another big announcement, stating that Indian students studying in France will now get a five-year long-term post-study work visa.
“The last time I came to France, it was decided that Indian students studying in France would be given a two-year post-study work visas. Now, it has been decided that Indian students pursuing Masters in France will be given long-term post-study visas of five years,” PM Modi said.
The Indian leader also talked football, claiming that PSG striker Kylian Mbappe had more fans in India than in France. He also talked about his France connection when the first cultural centre was started in his home state.
“My attachment to France is quite old, and I can never forget it. Around 40 years ago, a cultural centre of France was started in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and the first member of that very centre is today talking to you,” PM Modi said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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